Dribs and Drabs
by del-kaidin
Summary: This is a collection of Drabbles, stories 250 words each or less. Each story is unique and stand alone.
1. Lost

posted: 6-26-2004

word count: 99

**Lost**

Kagome shook her head as she walked out of the well house across the shrine courtyard. She nodded politely to the tourist following her grandfather. How was she going to tell her mother? She could see the look of disappointment already. Swallowing she entered the house. "I'm home."

"How was your trip, dear?" her mother asked smiling.

"Fine, we found several jewel shards."

"That's nice dear. Anything else?" the elder Higurashi asked leadingly.

"Mom... Inuyasha and I were ... and well... before... it was an accident but I lost..."

"Yes, dear I know, archeologists found your bike last week."


	2. Missing You

Word Count: 98

Date Published: 9-29-2004

Inspired while listening to "Maria" from "West Side Story"

**Missing You**

For a long moment the CD he'd not listened to in years, nineteen to be exact, was studied by golden brown eyes. Reverent hands placed it in the player and looking into her face he sang while tears traced down his cheeks. His voice trembled slightly on the last note and as the music faded he knelt at her feet, for a moment, before leaning forward and kissing her feet. He rose and walked to the Land Rover. "I miss you Izzy," he said with one final look at the Angel before heading back to his lonely life.


	3. Dishes

Dishes

Originally written on 12/9/2004

Word Count: 138

Kagome had promised they would go as soon as she was packed and the dishes were put in ma-sheen, Inuyasha thought as he stared at the dishes. He could do that; no one would know and they would leave sooner. Picking up the dishes, he walked to the ma-sheen and opened it. Carefully placing the dishes inside and adding soap, he spun the dial and pulled it out. He slapped his hands together as the water ran.

Minutes later everyone dashed into the room as the ma-chine began to make horrible noises. Kagome and her mother looked at each other, and Kagome screamed, "OSUWARI!"

Behind her, Inuyasha fell to the floor under the spell of the rosary. Lifting his head he snarled, "What was that for?"

"You're supposed to put dishes in the DISHWASHER not the WASHING MACHINE!"


	4. Summer Thaw

Created: 1-18-05

Word Count: 106

**Summer Thaw**

Dark. Cold. Aloof. Descriptive words, comforting words, words a lifetime had been spent acquiring. Ice, frozen, emotionless, they claimed. He welcomed the comparison. Then she arrived, sunshine, warmth, concern, laughter, summer to his winter.

Years passed. The child grew into a young lady then to an old woman. Even in the autumn and winter of her life she offered him the warm sunshine of her smile, slowly thawing his armor of ice.

None heard the ice around his heart crack. None saw the warmth that came to golden eyes. None but she saw the soft smile that graced his face when they sat alone in silence.


	5. The Second Time

Word count: 198

Published: 1-24-2005

**The Second Time**

We returned today, as we do each year on this day, to visit a well that is a dusty hole in the ground, no longer a door to another time. I watch as he checks the wood for damage, clawed hands running lovingly over the wood. He sits, his head bowed, the sun glistening off his silver hair; the picture of sadness and despair, then, I smell it. A scent I remember only once before.

I was a very young kit; Naraku still lived when the Schichinin-tai attacked. Miroku, Sango and Kagome injured from their battle with Mukotsu rested at the temple. Renkotsu tricked us, Inuyasha, Kirara and me. While he fought, the Shichinin-tai fire-breather set ablaze the temple where they lay. My kitsune-bi kept the fire from them, but did not stop the poison.

He taught me that day as he stood beside them that a man doesn't cry where other's can see. Only when she moved did I smell for the first time the scent that tickled my nose today. Slowly, silently I backed out of the clearing, leaving my friend and father alone with his grief. Today was the second time I saw Inuyasha cry.


	6. Floral Messages

This drabble won Moderator's Choice from the Live Journal Community iyficchallenge.

Word Count: 138

Original Posting Date: February 5, 2005

**Floral Messages**

She climbed from the well, a bouquet of four flowers clutched in her hand. Paying no heed to the visitors there, she walked across the shrine grounds into the house, up the stairs and into the pink bedroom. The mattress creaked as she climbed onto it, then laid the four flowers on the pillow.

One by one, she lifted them and sniffed their subtle fragrance. A pink Azalea cautioned her to "take care of herself." A red chrysanthemum and its white twin told her "I love" and "truth". Lastly she held a single cherry blossom for "education."

"Here," he'd said thrusting the flowers at her before leaping off into the depths of the forest. Now she wondered did he know their meanings and should she tell him, or if she should just remember the rose in his cheeks.


	7. Alone

Word Count: 200

Original publishing date: 2/15/2005

Winner: Member's Choice – Inuyasha Issekiwa Yahoo group.

**Alone**

"KAZE NO KIZU," I shout bringing tessaiga down on the attacking demon. I feel the power race from the sword as it answers my call. The enemy is defeated… again.

I look over the scene as I sheath the sword and it returns to its rusty katana state. The deep ruts in the earth the wind scar has caused again in defense of the Shikon no Tama. A defense that should have ended four years ago, I had followed the rules. I had made my wish; it was granted… the damn thing was supposed to disappear. That was what Kikyou had told me.

I remember the moment I realized I was forever doomed to be the protector of the jewel. That is the curse of the Shikon No Tama… it ruins your life. Kagome was gone, she had returned to her time to see what she could find out in her time. The well closed. Sango and Miroku went back to her village to rebuild it. Shippou stayed with Kaede to help her. Kikyou had returned to the grave. Kohaku went with her. I was alone again.

Alone. My only companion a pink sphere that forced me to remain alone.


	8. Rin's Lover WARNING Non cannon pairing

Title: Rin's Lover

Word Length: 156

Rating: PG-13

"Please don't, Sesshomaru-sama," Rin begged placing herself between her foster father and her lover. Tears fell down her cheeks as she spoke the words that made his blood turn to ice, "I love him."

"Rin, how can you love something so hideously deformed?" His eyes traveled back and forth between his daughter and her… partner. "Why have you disgraced yourself with… him?"

"He's not deformed and I haven't disgraced myself." Rin turned and smiled as her companion left the bed, and slipped into his hakama. "He's beautiful." She turned back to see her father pulling Toukijin from its scabbard, "And if you hurt him I'll never speak to you again!"

"Rin, you are only eighteen. You do not know what you are saying." Sesshomaru answered, moving around the girl. "I will kill him and we will forget this ever happened."

"Go ahead and try," Inuyasha answered unsheathing his sword. "And just who are you calling deformed?"


	9. Protector Protected

Word Count: 127

Original Publish Date: 2-23-2005

Protector Protected

He flew back, his shoulders digging furrows into the rocky soil, a distance of one, two, possibly three ken. The jagged purple stripes still rested on his cheeks. Slow, carefully measured strides took him towards the raging animal that had destroyed the bandits. Better to destroy the abomination than allow further disgrace to touch the family name.

Movement to the left, a flash of green and white, and she shielded his body with her own. As fierce as a tiger, she glared upward, blue-gray eyes flashing as she guarded her mate. Black-red and purple-black joined her to stand between him and his prey. Three ningen defended one who would mindlessly kill them.

Advice offered from an unlikely source. Fang pressed into hand. Jagged purple faded to nothing.

1.6765 ken 10 feet


	10. Voyeur

Title: Voyeur  
Word Count: 130

Genre: General

Voyeur

He gently pushed away the limbs of the bush, not enough to expose himself, just enough to reveal them.

Two hourglass figures stood half submerged in the steaming water of the hot spring. One figure stood on the verge of womanhood, her skin unmarred by scars or blemish. The other had completed the journey, her back marred and perfected by the scar that covered it. The tips of their hair floated gently on the surface as they sank into the warm water.

Soft conversation murmured around him, the words unimportant. It was the contrast of the two women that he sought, one innocent but knowing, one a warrior but still gentle.

The limb fell softly back into place, and with careful steps he made his way back to the campfire.


	11. Everyone Has A Secret

Title: Everyone has a secret

Rating: G

Pairing: none – but implied Inuyasha/Kikyou and Naraku/Kagome

Genre: Introspection

Word Count: 181

Summary: Everyone has a secret weakness.

* * *

Secrets… they were nothing but a weakness. Everyone has them; the trick was to learn what they were. Then it was mere child's play to exploit them.

Ah, the simplicity of the past, he reminisced. The hanyou and the miko had fallen easily into his web of deceit. Even now, the monk wore the evidence of his grandfather's secret lechery.

The exterminators with their pride and confidence had fallen prey to their secret fears. The last of their line's secret wish; retrieve the living corpse that was her brother and restore him to life.

The hanyou was as easy as ever threaten what he secretly loved and he acted foolishly.

The last of the company, the reincarnation, the strangely dressed miko in her green and white dress… her secret she wore for all to see. Her love for the hanyou made her strong; her innocence purified the Shikon-no-tama with a touch. He would find a way to exploit that.

He too had a secret, a secret desire to rip the innocence from the pure maiden and claim her as his own.


	12. Unloved

**Unloved  
**

I watch him with her and realize what I will never know, amused that I even regret its loss. It is nothing but a human emotion, one I have not the time for, yet when I see him offer her a hand, a smile, a tender glance my heart clenches.

I did not even realize I could feel such things; I should be above such things. I was raised to know my place, I was a noble woman; love was an emotion I could not allow myself. Love was an emotion for humans and peasants not, one such as I. Yet somewhere through our time together I had done the unthinkable: I fell in love with my lord husband.

"My Lord," I call and he looks up at me, my heart flutters wildly within my breast.

"Yes My Lady?" His voice rumbles around me, but it is cold, warmth is only for her.

I watch as she enters the room and his eyes follow her filled with the base emotions for her that I once shunned but now long for. "Our son will return today."

"Good, send Sesshomaru to me when he arrives." He leaves with the human following dutifully behind, the human woman who receives the love I long for.


	13. Money

**Money**

Miroku watched a small, rectangular paper flutter free from Kagome's bag as she pulled out yet another book and a spiral-bound writing scroll. A slight breeze blew it toward him. He picked it up, knowing she always panicked when she misplaced things. He examined it quickly, intrigued. One side had green ink and featured two cranes. The other side had blue ink and showed a man with short hair,  
wearing a type of kimono the monk had never seen.

"Kagome-sama, you dropped this." He held the paper out to her.

The schoolgirl glanced from her text to the proffered item, narrowing her eyes. "Oh my god! Thanks, Miroku! Mom would have killed me if I'd lost that!"

"It is an important ofuda from your era, then?" he asked.

"No. It's money."

"Money? How ingenious," he exclaimed. "How much is this worth?"

Kagome glanced at the bill. "One thousand yen."

Frowning at the foreign denomination, he pulled out the string of coins he always carried. One hand carefully counted and weighed them while the other held the note between thumb and forefinger. "A man could carry a fortune easily," he muttered in wonder, missing the dark looks his companions gave him.


	14. No One Mourns The Wicked

**No One Mourns The Wicked**

The blackened ground held its silence, only through the mirror could she witness the final moments. The exterminator catching the collapsing corpse of her reanimated brother, the hanyou screaming as the clay body of the long dead miko shattered, the monk watching, mouth agape as his hand sealed. The murderess stood alone. The hand that had released the holy arrow still rested against her cheek and the bow in position as if awaiting another arrow to be knocked to its deadly arch.

Through the reflection, she watched, as the four walked slowly away never looking back. Never admiring the strengths of the foe, they had defeated. Not that she expected them to mourn him. No. No one would mourn the loss of Naraku, none but the void that called him father.


	15. Twilight Garden

**Twilight Garden**

Across the garden he walked, tall and beautiful, bearing the marks  
of his race, pure silver white hair styled ornately for the court.  
Two steps behind him, hands clasped demurely before her hidden in  
the voluminous folds of her multi-layered kimono the moon to the sun  
of his eyes. Two steps further behind walked the next woman, her  
hair as dark as the sky at midnight, her eyes as violet as the suns  
dying burst of color on the sea, the simpler kimono she wore denoting her lesser status.

Onto cushions, they knelt the moon to the right, and midnight sky to  
the left of the golden sun. A cacophony of silence descended as  
they watched birds in their flight while within the twilight garden  
secrets took root.

Golden eyes studied both women, youkai and ningen; bride and  
concubine, moon and sky. "I must…"

The moon looked down upon the sky and plotted, "I will…"

The sky looked into the garden and smiled, "I love…"

Above the garden, the hawk captured the dove as the sun set and the  
moon smiled.


	16. Search Concluded

**Search Concluded**

A blank board stares back at her; brushes, pens, inks, and notes litter the desk upon which she rests her elbows. How often she has studied a similar board... a quest this time, a simple quest. A smile crosses her face as she envisions the quests within the quest - a girl searching for her place within the maze of adolescence, a boy of two different worlds seeking acceptance, a young man searching for love, a young woman searching for her brother, and a child seeking what was stolen from him.

Pen and brush seek ink and then paper, while images vie for their place on the page. A tree takes root and grows, a shrine is built, and a fat cat wanders through. "Isn't it funny?", she thinks, drawing a fondly remembered well, that in seeking a jewel, she found her place.


	17. How Long

How Long

I remember the first time I saw your face. Anger flashed in your eyes and you yelled back at me. No one had ever done that before. They had always been afraid of me, but not you, never you. You stood by my side proudly, fought beside me, defended me, and refused to hear anything bad about me. Only Mother had ever been as staunch a defender of me. You saw past the gruff arrogance I show the world. How did you do that? How did you know that my greatest wish was not to become a youkai but to be accepted for what I am, a hanyou? How much longer must I deny what we both want? How long until the world will accept me as you did and do? However long, it will be too long.


	18. Midoriko's Truth

Original Posting Date: 3/6/06

Word Count: 193

Midoriko's Truth

In the battle she knew would be her last, her thoughts wandered through her life. How as a child she had known she would be a warrior miko, and known even as she entered the cave this would be her final battle.

The hoards of youkai attacking her began to coalesce into one, combining their strength for one final attack. She knew no miko could defeat this evil alone. It would take a miko aided by a being with the strength of a youkai and the heart of a human. With their final attack, she made hers. Capturing her enemy's soul, she locked them forever into a battle neither could win.

Passed from being to being within the jewel, she waited trusting that one day the ones from her vision would appear. Until one late summer day the pair came together, only to be ripped apart by distrust. Generation after generation reborn within the incarnations, she despaired of her vision ever coming true. Then fate in the forms of a fat cat, a little brother, and a magic well brought them together. Within the jewel, Midoriko smiled as they searched for her truth.


	19. Nightmare

**Title:** Nightmare.  
**Word Count:** 143

Original Posting Date: 3/20/06

Dark. Weight pressing down, compressing ribs and lungs, unable to breathe. Lungs scream for air. Gasp for breath. Mouth fills with dirt. Fear. Fingers curled, nails ripping through earth, ripping into the bed. Pain. Arm brushing another, cold, clammy, dead flesh. Eyes clenched shut. Fear. Dig faster. Scramble for air, light, and life. Sound. Thud. The crack of wood splintering. Brightness seen behind closed lids. Another hand. The bite of beads against the palm, cloth, fingers - warm living fingers. A voice.

"Sango," her name breathed softly in her ear as she is pulled to a firm chest. Held, comforted like a child as her body shudders and her mind releases the nightmare. Lips press against her forehead as sobs racked her body. "A nightmare," the voice comforted. "It was only a nightmare."

She shook her head, "No. Not a nightmare. A memory."


	20. Some Sunrises A Girl Never Forgets

Originally Posted: April 11, 2006

**Some Sunrises a Girl Never Forgets**

There are just some sunrises a girl never forgets.

The first sunrise she sits up all night to watch, just because she can. Watching the sun as it rose the morning after her first kiss. Witnessing the lightening of the sky the morning she realizes she's in love. The way the sun rose on her wedding day.

She would never forget the morning after the battle. The day of battle and victory giving way to the dark night filled with tears.

No, she would never forget that sunrise. The sunrise she buried all her friends then left them forever in the past.


	21. Fireworks

Originally Posted 4/21/06

Theme: Fireworks

Group: Count: 200

Fireworks

Her eyes shut she raised her lips for his kiss, excited and nervous. Their first kiss after so long a wait; now they stood by the well, and she was in his arms. His lips were on hers, tender and gentle. She waited, waited for the fireworks that every movie, and novel said would happen to happen. Nothing, not even a sparkler flickered in her mind. He lifted his head, a goofy smile on his lips. She smiled, assured his masculine pride that it was marvelous, and then leapt down the well.

Safely in her room, she cried for the lack of the fabled light show. Did it mean she didn't love him? No, that she was sure she did. Why hadn't she felt the electric tingle, seen the fireworks behind her eyelids. The romance novels from her nightstand were tossed in the trash. They were just filled with lies. There were no tingles at his touch, fireworks in his kiss.

He was waiting for her when she returned and took her in his arms. Resigned to never experiencing them, she allowed his lips to move against hers. Then it happened… in vibrant neon electric fireworks exploded. They _were_ real.


End file.
